Kozmino (Russia), Dec 28 - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who officially launched the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline Monday, said it was a project of strategic importance for Russia.

During his visit to the region, the Russian premier took part in the official ceremony of pumping the first batch of Siberian oil into an oil tanker at the specialised maritime oil-loading port of Kozmino, the final point of the ESPO project.

"It is an important event for Russia. It is a strategic project, which enables us to enter new markets in the Asia-Pacific region," Putin said, adding that Russia's current presence in the region's markets was "insufficient".

He said that the project's first leg cost 360 billion roubles ($12.1 billion), and 60 billion roubles ($2 billion) were allocated for the construction of the port in Kozmino.

The premier added that despite the global financial crisis, the construction of the first leg was completed in five years, as scheduled.

The ESPO project is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tons) of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region.

The project's first leg envisages the construction of a 2,757-km section with a capacity of 30 million tons of oil per year. It will link Taishet, in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region, to Skovorodino, in the Amur Region, in Russia's Far East.

The second stretch will run 2,100 km from Skovorodino to the Pacific Ocean. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually.